The PD's K-9 vehicles are
outfitted with equipment that is meant to generate a heat alert, which
may have not been working at the time

By Colleen Shalby
Los Angeles Times

LONG BEACH, Calif. — A K-9 with the Long Beach
Police Department died after being left in his handler’s
department-issued vehicle, authorities said Friday.

The police
dog, named Ozzy, and the officer were off-duty when the dog was found
dead. The officer, whom the Police Department is not identifying,
reported the dog’s death and an investigation is underway.

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Ozzy’s handler found the 6-year-old dog dead in the vehicle at roughly 3:40 p.m. Aug. 14.

“A
veterinarian examination of Ozzy and the preliminary results determined
the cause of death to be heat-related,” Long Beach police public
information officer Arantxa Chavarria said in a statement. “Our K-9
vehicles are outfitted with fail-safe equipment that is meant to
generate an alert. At this time, we believe this alert may not have been
working.”

Chavarria said the equipment includes a heat-controller
system that uses a cellphone app to signal when the vehicle is getting
too warm. Another mechanism provides a “manual button that only shuts
down the system when activated by the handler,” she said.

Chavarria
did not say whether it was standard practice for a K-9 to be left alone
in this type of vehicle. Since Ozzy’s death, all K-9 handlers have been
checking their vehicle’s heat system controllers before every shift,
she said.

Midafternoon temperatures in Long Beach the day the dog died were between 81 and 84 degrees, according to a weather archive.

It was not immediately clear whether the dog was in Long Beach at the time of death or how long he had been left unattended.

It
takes only 15 minutes for a hot animal to suffer brain damage, as
animal rights advocates remind the public every summer. In California,
it is illegal to leave an animal unattended in a vehicle when conditions
may endanger its health and well-being. Circumstances include heat and
cold as well as a lack of adequate ventilation, food or water. A dog
left in a car with its windows cracked on a hot, non-breezy day does not
always suffice as adequate.

It is also legal for California
residents to break into a vehicle to save an animal they think has been
left unattended and is suffering. That law went into effect in 2017.

In
October, the Signal Tribune wrote about Ozzy, one of two dogs who
worked in the Long Beach Police Department’s Drug Investigations
Section.

Ozzy, half Belgian Malinois and half German shepherd, had
worked as a K-9 for more than five years. In that time, he had assisted
several agencies including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives.

“We ask that you respect the handler and
his family,” Chavarria said. “Our department is mourning Ozzy’s loss as
we would with any of our employees. Our K-9s are an indispensable part
of our department, and we will continue to view them as partners.”